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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29167338">Say a prayer with every heartbeat</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Polyhexian/pseuds/Polyhexian'>Polyhexian</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Excerpts from an Electronic Empire [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Original Work</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Established Relationship, Explicit Sexual Content, M/M, POV Third Person, Sticky Sexual Interfacing, Wall Sex, Xenophilia</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 11:27:03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Explicit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>7,488</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29167338</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Polyhexian/pseuds/Polyhexian</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Thrush's trinemates really don't like his boyfriend and it's starting to get to him.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Evan/Thrush</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Excerpts from an Electronic Empire [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2126772</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Say a prayer with every heartbeat</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Thrush leaned back and stretched out his legs as he landed light on the wall next to Zephyr, perching peacefully as she waited for her shift.</p><p>"Anything interesting?" she inquired. Thrush shifted, shaking the frost off his plating. </p><p>"Not from our neighbors," he said sharply. Zephyr whistled in amusement.</p><p>"Not getting on with the commander?"</p><p>"You know I'm not," he said testily, before he straightened his posture. "She's still sending out scouts without coordinating with us. I had to stop in with her people three times."</p><p>"She doesn't trust us," Zephyr said coolly, curling her tail.</p><p>"No," said Thrush, lashing his, "She doesn't trust <em> me.</em>"</p><p>"Mm," hummed Zephyr, "No. She doesn't. She doesn't trust me or Riot by association."</p><p>Thrush hissed in irritation. </p><p>"I'm sorry," he said, after a moment of stewing, "I don't mean to put you in this position."</p><p>Zephyr scoffed. "Don't apologize. You're an idiot, but you're our idiot. She doesn't like me or Riot because she knows we'd never turn on a trinemate no matter how dumb he is."</p><p>"Thanks for the vote of confidence," Thrush huffed.</p><p>"You've got a human with a fetish for talking fleshlights in your house," she responded, "It's not the best example of good judgement."</p><p>Thrush's shoulders sank and his tail dropped. "It's not like that." </p><p>Zephyr sighed, optic dimming. "You've been lucky, Thrush. You don't know humans like I do. He probably does think he likes you, but-" she set a four fingered hand on his shoulder gently, "He's never going to see you as anything but an object. He just can't."</p><p>Thrush hung his head, wings sinking. He didn't have a response.</p><p>Zephyr shook her head sadly, hopping back onto the wall. "I hope I'm wrong. I really do."</p><p>She set her wings in position and leapt off the wall and over the side, quickly vanishing from sight. Thrush lingered at the tag post, leaning back on the parapet and into the town proper. With Seax's unit stationed here, the sleepy community was far too busy, moving too quickly. It didn't suit it at all. He liked his quiet hamlet how it had been before this. </p><p>His optic flickered over to his house, off on the edge, before he kicked off the side and glided to ground level. </p><p>He pushed open the door to his home and frowned when he found it wasn't locked. He kept telling Evan to remember to do that.</p><p>"Evan!" Thrush called, "I'm home, are you up?"</p><p>Thrush found the silence that greeted him deeply unsettling. His tail thrashed uncomfortably against the ground, before he was startled by a knock at his door. </p><p>"Thrush!" Thrush switched his optical display to heat mapping and recognized the shape of the human outside as his neighbor, Denny. He rushed back to open it.</p><p>"What?" he asked, harried, "What's wrong?" </p><p>"Two hours ago I saw the commander come over here," he said gruffly, "She left with Evan and a couple of soldiers. Figured you oughta know."</p><p>"She did <em> what?!" </em> Thrush cried, wings flaring, "She didn't tell me that! I just got back from my route!" </p><p>"I had a bad feeling about it," Denny admitted, "Things have been… tense since she came to town." </p><p>Thrush narrowed his optic, flattening his wings against his back. "What did she say to you?"</p><p>Denny grimaced silently.</p><p>"Denny," Thrush repeated, keeping his voice steady, "What did she say to you?"</p><p>"She may have suggested… that I should consider moving," he said carefully.</p><p>Thrush clenched his fists and thrashed his tail hard, furious. "Does she know you were <em> born </em> in that house?" he hissed, "We don't kick people from their homes. That's not the <em> point.</em>" </p><p>"It's not that I don't understand where she's coming from," Denny said graciously, "But I ain't moving."</p><p>"You shouldn't have to," Thrush muttered, "If she hates humans so much she can go back to Proxima. That's not what we do here." He shook his head. "Thank you for telling me. Let me know if she bothers you again. I have to go find out what's happened to Evan."</p><p>"Yeah," said Denny, and Thrush pulled his door shut behind him, taking a few long strides before he hit his thrusters.</p><p>When he landed in front of the military base tent behind the courthouse he could see the way the door guards eyed him with suspicion, and he didn't like it. They were supposed to be on the same side. </p><p>"I want to talk to the commander," Thrush asserted, firmly setting his wings back and lashing his tail as he straightened up in front of the guards. </p><p>"She's busy," said one, a soldier-class mechae with a visor and thick armour plating. </p><p>"I know," Thrush replied, "I want to talk to the commander."</p><p>"I told you, she's-"</p><p>Thrush activated his alarm system and watched both guards cringe back.</p><p>"Are you kidding?!" the other guard snapped, moving to cover his audials. Thrush stared him down, until he saw the tent flap move aside, commander Seax lifting up the fabric to look down at him with ice blue optics. He turned off his alarm. </p><p>"Commander," he said coolly.</p><p>"I expected you," commander Seax answered with the same stony disposition, before he stepped aside and ushered for him to enter. His antennae shifted anxiously, but he stepped inside the tent and dilated his optic, adjusting to the low light. </p><p>"Evan!" Thrush couldn't help but cry when he saw him sitting some distance away at a desk, hands folded across the surface and expression deeply weary. He brightened when he saw Thrush, though, and the drone quickly left the commander's side to join him at the desk. "Are you alright?" </p><p>"Oh, yeah, yeah, I'm fine," he said quickly, eyes darting to commander Seax as she followed to stand behind Thrush, arms folded behind her back, "We were just talking."</p><p>"What about?" Thrush demanded.</p><p>"Uh," Evan said, still watching the commander.</p><p>"We were talking about what tactical information he might have on our neighbors across the border," Seax answered, "Since he was previously working in security."</p><p>"You want him to help you launch an assault against people he used to work with?" Thrush asked, incredulous, "You can't ask that."</p><p>"I don't know if you know this," she said, seemingly unperturbed, "but we <em> are </em> at war."</p><p>"Yeah, well," Thrush snapped, grabbing Evan's wrist and hauling him to his feet, "We aren't soldiers and I don't take orders from you."</p><p>"Hm," she responded, and Thrush turned briskly toward the exit, before he stopped and turned back around.</p><p>"And stop undermining my trine! <em> We </em> are responsible for local security and have been for <em> years. </em> We know what we're doing and I expect to be kept in the loop." He lowered his optic dangerously. "I'm warning you, commander. I'm not like the bots on Proxima. Do not push me."</p><p>With that he stormed outside, fuming. As soon as they turned a corner and moved out of sight, Evan shook his hand off and Thrush turned to face him.</p><p>"Are you okay?" the human asked. </p><p>Thrush lashed his tail. "That's my line," he responded, "She didn't have any right."</p><p>"She didn't <em> make </em>me," Evan told him, "I said I'd been willing to talk to her."</p><p>"I know she didn't give you much of a choice," Thrush snapped, "Seax <em> hates </em> humans. <em> She </em> thought we shouldn't let them in the country at all. Even the ones that were here first." Thrush shook his head and fluttered his wings. "You- you and <em> me </em> is a huge problem for her, I know it."</p><p>Evan frowned, knitting his brows together, before he pulled the mech in for a hug. "Hey. It's gonna be okay. Okay?"</p><p>Thrush hesitated, feeling the steady beat of the human's heart below his ribs though his audials where his head rested against his chest. "Yeah. Okay."</p><p>"Let's go home," Evan soothed, rubbing his back, "You need a break."</p><p>Thrush nodded, suddenly aware of how tired he actually was. He'd just gotten back from his route, a hundred and fifty mile loop that left him aching for fuel and a recharge. He still had frost on his wings. He let his partner lead him back home by the hand.</p><p>The door shut behind him and Thrush didn't resist being scooped up and carried to his nest and his charger.</p><p>"I'm gonna go grab your fuel cells from Copper," Evan told him, "Just power down for a bit. You're clearly exhausted." </p><p>"Fine," Thrush relented, but only because he <em> was </em> exhausted. He stayed online long enough for Evan to lean down and kiss him below the optic before he wriggled back down into the blankets and started a solid defrag.</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>Thrush came back online to the lights dimmed and his body wrapped in two comforters, warm and soft. He tilted his helm to the side to see light spilling out of the kitchen across the ceiling and checked his power levels. He'd had his fuel cells changed while he was out and his electronics were fully charged. </p><p>He wriggled out of his nest and unplugged, clambering up to the back of one couch to perch, peering into the kitchen.</p><p>"Hey, you're up!" Evan beamed from where he stood at the counter, cutting vegetables. Thrush cocked his head to the side and hopped down to the floor, trailing his tail behind him as he crossed the room to stand next to the human and investigate.</p><p>"What are you making?" he asked.</p><p>"Stir fry," Evan replied, "It's like vegetables and meat and rice tossed in a wok together. It's easy to make."</p><p>"Hm," Thrush hummed, noting that down for later. </p><p>"Want some?" Evan joked, cracking a smile. Thrush snorted.</p><p>"Can I watch you make it?" he asked instead.</p><p>"Sure, if you want."</p><p>Thrush dragged a chair over to squat in, flicking his tail back and forth while he recorded the process in case he had to replicate it later. Humans were very fussy about food, he had found, how it was cooked, how it was cut, the shapes and temperatures and colours. </p><p>"I'm sorry I got so upset earlier," he said eventually, when Evan had his creation over the heat on the stove.</p><p>"You don't have to apologize," the human assured him, "I'm not mad. I was worried about you."</p><p>Thrush kneaded his hands together mindlessly, digging his thumb into the seamline of his palm. "I'm afraid of what she might do."</p><p>"To me?"</p><p>"To you."</p><p>Evan tossed the stir fry quietly, lost in thought. "We'll deal with it when it happens, then."</p><p>Thrush fidgeted, sighed, and laid his head down on the back of the chair, crossing his arms. "I don't like it. I hate being an idealist no one takes seriously." </p><p>"Somebody's gotta be an idealist," Evan commented, "Otherwise everything goes to the dogs. Somebody's gotta have a conscience."</p><p>Thrush huffed a sigh.</p><p>"Come on," Evan tried, giving him a smile, "How about we play some Counterstrike after this? You know you can't be sad when you're beating me at video games."</p><p>Thrush laughed despite himself, flicking his tail. "Yeah, yeah, alright. You know me too well." </p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>Thrush curled his toes as he rose up again on his knees, riding Evan's cock with slow and steady deliberate movements while the human mouthed languidly at the front of his helm. He synthesized a wanton sigh as teeth dragged across the metal rim below his optic, claws digging into the back of the couch where his hands rested. </p><p>"Wish I could kiss you back," he murmured, vocalizer soft and low. </p><p>"Get a mouth," Evan responded coolly, hands gripped firm against his hips where they hefted him up and back down again, rolling evenly up into the motion.</p><p>"I'll pass." Thrush drew his head back and set it down against the man's shoulder, shifting his arms to rest against the back of the couch, though he continued to rut shallowly in his lap.</p><p>"You okay?" Evan hummed, sliding his hands up to his back. </p><p>"Mmhmm," Thrush affirmed, tail coiling around a warm thigh, "I'm just happy."</p><p>"Heheh," Evan chuckled, "Wow, someone would think you like me or something."</p><p>"More than anything," Thrush nodded, "I love you."</p><p>"I know," Evan soothed, petting his back, "I love you, too." </p><p>Thrush's tanks flipped and he buried his face. "I know. I know you do."</p><p>Evan tilted his helm back to rest their foreheads together, hands on the sides of his head. "I do." </p><p>"I know," Thrush murmured, "I know, I know, I know."</p><p>Evan frowned and went still, leaving Thrush seated deep but no longer moving. "It's really gotten to you, huh?" </p><p>"Part of me is struggling," Thrush admitted, looking askance, "But I'm choosing to trust you anyway."</p><p>Evan's eyes tracked back and forth for a moment, lost in thought, before he pulled Thrush up and off with a yelp and set him back down a few inches further up, squeezing his thighs together.</p><p>"What?" Thrush said, flattening his antennae anxiously, "I'm sorry."</p><p>"No, no," Evan said, "Let's take a break for awhile. It's got you anxious. Let's just… stop for awhile and put your mind at ease some. Maybe you'll feel better."</p><p>Thrush fidgeted, end of his tail flicking rapidly. "I don't want to punish you because I'm letting my friends get to me." </p><p>"You're not punishing me," Evan assured him, reaching up to brush a hand against the side of his helm, "I don't want to do anything that makes you feel bad. Think of it as, like, an opportunity for me to take care of you for once."</p><p>Thrush set his helm in the human's palm, soft and warm against his plating. "You aren't mad?" </p><p>Evan rolled them over so he was on top and crossed his arms over Thrush's chest with a grin. "How could I be mad at a cute face like that?" </p><p>"I don't have a face," Thrush huffed.</p><p>Evan pitched forward and kissed him right on the optic. "Cute."</p><p>Thrush flicked his tail happily despite himself. "You're so good to me."</p><p>"I'm certainly trying to be," Evan smiled softly. </p><p>"My favourite human," Thrush murmured, pleased.</p><p>"My favourite CCTV camera," Evan grinned back, eliciting a light laugh from the mech.</p><p>Thrush giggled and pulled him closer, ignoring the mess between their legs and lingering arousal. He <em> did </em> feel a profound sense of relief, a weight off his shoulders he hadn't realized he'd been carrying. </p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>Thrush came out of his power down slowly, visual feed fading in dimly as he became aware of his surroundings. He'd been stressed lately, processor working overtime- he was tired. Defragging more often. It was becoming noticeable.</p><p>He shifted, only to have Evan squeeze his arms around him, though his resting pulse and rapid eye movement suggested he was still asleep. </p><p>Thrush laid still, his helm laying against the human's chest, arm thrown across his belly. He radiated warmth the way only organics could, right on the surface, diverse in texture and full of soft tissue and solid bone. He never got enough of touching him, fascinating construction that he was. The way he could feel his sternum beneath the flesh and the beat of his heart below that, the occasional gurgle of his stomach and the steady pulse of blood in his veins. Foreign, intoxicating, perfectly regulated without any conscious management. It felt like magic.</p><p>Guilt pooled in his abdomen. The man had been good to him, gentle and kind and curious and all the things he wanted him to be. He didn't <em> want </em> to feel this sudden trepidation. He hadn't done anything to lose his trust.</p><p>At the same time he wasn't blind. He knew people were definitely looking at him differently. Pitied mostly, but resented by some, like Seax. He didn't like it. </p><p>In his HUD he ran through codestrings, interconnected in a deeply intertwined web of associations. He knew he could fix it, remove the anxiety and relieve the stress, make things easy again. He knew he could do exactly what Evan had been so worried about before, that he could make his whole life so much easier if he just wasn't in love with a human. Be someone else. Someone easier to be.</p><p>He closed his software management program and shifted his hold instead, winding his tail around the man's thigh. He was soft and he was warm and he was holding him and Thrush didn't think he could ever remove enough associations in his programming to stop yearning to be held.</p><p>The hand on his back moved to brush softly across the plating, his heart rate changing minutely. He was awake.</p><p>"You're cold," Evan mumbled under his breath.</p><p>"Sorry," Thrush laughed, thrumming his engine quietly, "Give it a minute."</p><p>He pulled the blanket back up over both of them, rolling onto his side. "You can get up if you want."</p><p>"In a minute," Thrush whispered. Evan hummed but didn't otherwise respond, probably slipping back into unconsciousness. </p><p>He checked his messages and found one waiting. </p><p> </p><p></p><blockquote>
  <p>
    <em> [06:34:37] Zephyr: saw evan talking to the commander again yesterday. </em>
  </p>
</blockquote><p>Thrush was wont for a frown.</p><p> </p><p></p><blockquote>
  <p>
    <em> [09:02:16] Thrush: so? </em>
  </p>
  <p>
    <em> [09:02:20] Zephyr: I'm on your side. I'm just warning you to keep an eye on her. </em>
  </p>
</blockquote><p>Thrush immediately felt bad for being suspect of her intent. He had known her for a long time, ever since they'd run into each other on the other side of the border, early in the aristocracy days. Too long to hold trust hostage from her over a dispute like this. </p><p> </p><p></p><blockquote>
  <p>
    <em> [09:02:50] Thrush: I'm sorry I've been so difficult lately. I don't mean to be. </em>
  </p>
  <p>
    <em> [09:03:15] Zephyr: it's fine. </em>
  </p>
  <p>
    <em> [09:03:30] Thrush: it's not fine. Your advice is appreciated. I'm being paranoid and I know it. </em>
  </p>
  <p>
    <em> [09:03:47] Zephyr: we're all paranoid, thrush, we're just better at hiding it than you. You wear your heart on your armour. </em>
  </p>
  <p>
    <em> [09:03:58] Thrush: I know. You've always said that. </em>
  </p>
  <p>
    <em> [09:04:03] Zephyr: at least one of us has to be earnest. Who else will be the good cop to my bad cop  </em>
  </p>
  <p>
    <em> [09:04:05] Riot: i could </em>
  </p>
  <p>
    <em> [09:04:09] Zephyr: riot, dear, I love you, but no one takes you seriously as any kind of cop </em>
  </p>
  <p>
    <em> [09:04:15] Thrush: you can be the strong and intimidating guard that stands by the door and makes everyone a little nervous  </em>
  </p>
  <p>
    <em> [09:04:17] Riot: sick </em>
  </p>
  <p>
    <em> [09:04:21] Zephyr: I don't hate your boyfriend, thrush. I just don't trust him. You've been lucky dealing with humans, but you're the outlier. Riot and I have seen what they're really capable of, and you haven't. We have to be extra suspicious, because you aren't suspicious enough. </em>
  </p>
  <p>
    <em> [09:04:30] Riot: he's making the best of a bad situation. eventually the americans are gonna buy him back and you're gonna get hurt. And we know how you are about individualizing.  </em>
  </p>
  <p>
    <em> [09:04:45] Thrush: it's important to me. </em>
  </p>
  <p>
    <em> [09:05:03] Thrush: I might have had it better than you but I'm not totally naive. Just because no one used me for target practice doesn't mean I've never been shot at. I know how bad humans can be. But he's not. He's good. I know him.  </em>
  </p>
  <p>
    <em> [09:05:25] Zephyr: like I said, thrush, I hope you're right.  </em>
  </p>
  <p>
    <em> [09:05:30] Zephyr: and if he really does stick around for the long haul, I'll get over it eventually.  </em>
  </p>
  <p>
    <em> [09:05:35] Riot: im gonna stay bad cop. somebody's gotta give him grief on your behalf </em>
  </p>
  <p>
    <em> [09:05:39] Thrush: riot </em>
  </p>
  <p>
    <em> [09:05:45] Riot: im just saying </em>
  </p>
  <p>
    <em> [09:05:50] Zephyr: I'll ask the commander to have some of her people take our route today. We haven't run formations in awhile. </em>
  </p>
  <p>
    <em> [09:05:55] Thrush: sounds great. Though I'm sure flying next to you will finally show the drag from my patch job lol </em>
  </p>
  <p>
    <em> [09:06:02] Zephyr: my wings are more patch than original construction </em>
  </p>
  <p>
    <em> [09:06:10] Zephyr: besides, riot still weighs more than a tank, you'll never fall behind him </em>
  </p>
  <p>
    <em> [09:06:15] Riot: hey </em>
  </p>
</blockquote><p>Thrush wiggled out of Evan's hold and clambered up over the back of the couch and onto the floor, stretching out his servos as he did. He glanced back down at the human, who didn't even seem to have noticed he was gone, and then turned and went into the kitchen. It was just past 9AM, and by his count Evan had had eight hours and twenty-two minutes of sleep, so it was about time to wake up. </p><p>He investigated the fridge for what was available and pulled up the recording he'd made of Evan making stir fry, counting up the ingredients and found it doable with what he had. He quickly itemized the steps from the video and gathered up supplies, careful to match the same heat and proportions. The closer he could get to the original, the more likely it wouldn't be terrible. </p><p>Thrush was just finishing when he heard the human start to stir in the other room. He grabbed a paper plate from the cabinet and turned off the burner. </p><p>"Morning!" Thrush chirped.</p><p>"G'mornin," Evan mumbled, sitting up. It took him a moment before he seemed to realize where Thrush was. "What are you doing?"</p><p>"Making breakfast," Thrush answered, quite pleased with himself. He finished playing his creation and retuned to the living room to present it proudly.</p><p>"Stir fry," Evan said, looking deeply amused. Thrush glanced down at it.</p><p>"What?" he asked nervously, "What did I do wrong?"</p><p>"Nothing, nothing, hun," Evan laughed, taking the offered plate, "Thank you."</p><p>Thrush hovered anxiously, tail flicking. "How is it? Is it bad?" </p><p>"Its just fine," Evan assured him between bites, "Tastes like it was made by someone with taste buds and everything." </p><p>Thrush perked up, tail wagging in relief. "Nice! What are you up to today?" </p><p>"Oh!" Evan snapped his fingers, "Right! One of those soldiers- I think his name was Transistor? -he wasn't built with any network capability. I said I would help him install a WiFi card today."</p><p>Thrush reared back, antennae shooting up. "What, in his brain?"</p><p>"Well, probably. Around there I suspect."</p><p>"Ew," Thrush couldn't stop himself from saying, tail lashing anxiously, "Are you qualified for that?"</p><p>"Why not?" Evan asked, "It's all just parts."</p><p>Thrush blinked his optic for a moment, processing, before he leaned forward. "It's not just parts. That's someone's brain." </p><p>Evan jolted. "No, no- I don't mean- I mean like, a person is made out of parts too, just like, meaty parts."</p><p>"What do you mean a <em> person? </em>" Thrush demanded, flaring his wings. </p><p>"What? No! No, I didn't mean-" Evan cried, looking alarmed. He dropped his plate and climbed out of the nest, "Thrush-" </p><p>"I'm doing formations with my trine today," he snapped, turning away, "We'll talk about it later."</p><p>"Thrush, come on, you <em> know </em> I didn't mean-" Evan pleaded as Thrush stormed out the front door. </p><p>"Do I?" Thrush asked, "Do I <em> know </em> that?" </p><p>Evan hovered in the doorway, looking hurt and lost. He didn't seem to know what to say.</p><p>Thrush flared his wings and activated his jets.</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>"You're off," Zephyr observed, pulling into a semi-guided hover, "You're hiding something." </p><p>"I'm not hiding anything," Thrush asserted stubbornly. </p><p>Riot seemed to notice they'd stopped finally and swooped back down to join them. "What? What did I miss?"</p><p>"Thrush is hiding something."</p><p>Riot narrowed his optic at him. "He looks the same to me."</p><p>"Emotionally, dear, hiding something emotionally."</p><p>"Oh! Yeah," Riot nodded, "Come on. You know you're gonna tell us. Do you really gotta drag it out?" </p><p>"Yes," Thrush said firmly, "Because I don't want to talk about it."</p><p>Zephyr sighed. "I'm landing."</p><p>She dipped away, swooping elegantly in a low curve before she dropped into the snow with a quiet thump. Riot gestured downward with his helm and then spun off to join her. Thrush groaned and lingered another moment in the air before he landed, too.</p><p>"Come on, blackbird," she said, her voice much gentler than before, "You want to tell us."</p><p>"Of course I <em> want </em> to," he admitted, crossing his arms across his chest, "But if I do that will only make it worse."</p><p>"How so?"</p><p>"I'm tired of you telling me I'm making a mistake," he said hoarsely, "I'm tired of having to defend myself. You don't trust me anymore and it hurts. I want you to <em> like </em> him and you won't even try, so I <em> can't </em> tell you because it will only make you give me even <em> more </em>grief about him."</p><p>Zephyr's wings sunk. </p><p>"We got in a fight," Thrush said finally, looking away and tightening his arms. </p><p>"About what?" </p><p>Thrush coiled his tail around one leg self consciously. "I told you," he said, "I don't want to tell you." </p><p>Zephyr sagged, but Riot leaned forward. "You think you're gonna make up?"</p><p>"Yeah," Thrush replied with a sigh, "It was dumb. I should have talked to him instead of storming off in the first place, and now I get to stew in it all day." He shook his head. "I've been so paranoid lately. I know it's making me a total jerk."</p><p>"You're not a jerk," Riot asserted immediately, "I figure you're reasonably suspicious. And if you ain't, then it's still your right to be unreasonably suspicious."</p><p>"Thank you, Riot," Thrush mumbled half heartedly.</p><p>"Do you remember when we met?" Zephyr asked suddenly.</p><p>"Me?" asked Riot.</p><p>"You shot me," Thrush answered. </p><p>"Yeah," said Zephyr, "I think about it a lot."</p><p>"It's not a big deal," Thrush said, looking a bit confused, "You were malfunctioning."</p><p>"Yes, but I didn't <em> shoot </em> you because I was malfunctioning," she said, shaking her head, "That was unrelated."</p><p>"You had been through a lot," Thrush said, "I understood as soon as I saw you that you would have shot <em> anyone </em> that got too close to you. You were terrified."</p><p>"I wasn't terrified," Zephyr murmured, "If I was anything, it was <em> angry. </em> The point is- the point I wanted to make was that when you came near, I looked at you and I saw a threat. I saw danger. I saw someone I had to kill before they killed me." She lowered her wings and looked back up at him. "Sometimes I only see the bad in others. The worst case scenarios. It feels safer, but it isn't. I wouldn't have made it much longer if you hadn't fixed me."</p><p>"You could h-"</p><p>"I wouldn't have," she said firmly, "Your boyfriend reeks of danger to me. I look at him and I see danger… but my perception, at times, is… compromised. I don't trust him. But I <em> do </em> trust you." </p><p>"Oh," Thrush murmured softly, "Thank you."</p><p>"I won't give you anymore grief," she told him, "You can make your own choices." She paused. "And neither will Riot."</p><p>"Aw, I can't bully him even a little?" Riot huffed.</p><p>"You can bully him about having a gross fetish for organics," she told him, "Just don't pick on the organic."</p><p>"I can live with that," Riot nodded. Thrush snorted laughter.</p><p>"Thank you," he said reverently, "I like him. A lot."</p><p>"I know, blackbird," she sighed fondly, patting him on the shoulder. "Come on, we've still got laps left."</p><p>"Beat you to a hundred meters!" Riot yelled, flaring his jets and bolting upward.</p><p>"Don't even try it!" Zephyr scoffed, following him quickly. </p><p>Thrush laughed, feeling relieved, a weight off his chest he needed. He shifted his posture to take off when his comm unit rang.</p><p>"Denny?" he asked, hesitating, "Is everything okay?"</p><p>"She took him," Denny answered immediately, "They left together."</p><p>"What?" Thrush asked, his lines running cold. He cut his jets.</p><p>"Evan left earlier, toward the tent camp- a bunch of soldiers just left, toward the border. I saw him and the commander get into a car together."</p><p>"She took him," Thrush repeated, the words sounding foreign, "To the border."</p><p>"Just now. I figured you oughta know. I don't like any of it."</p><p>"I have to go," Thrush said in a breathless voice, "Thank you."</p><p>He cut his comm, wobbling.</p><p>"You coming?" Zephyr commed him.</p><p>"She took him," Thrush repeated.</p><p>"What?"</p><p>"Seax," he told her, "She's taking him to the border."</p><p>"What?!"</p><p>Thrush felt weightless suddenly, his wings vibrating as they tried to decide if he was flying or not. "She took him! She's going to- she's going to turn him over to the Americans, or- or-"</p><p>Zephyr landed in front of him with a thump, snow flying up around her feet. "When?"</p><p>"They just left," Thrush answered, "She took him." </p><p>"Maybe he went with her on his own," Riot suggested, landing beside Zephyr, "You did just have a fight. Maybe he wants to go home."</p><p>"Thrush?" Zephyr prompted.</p><p>"...No," said Thrush, "He wouldn't do that."</p><p>"Alright then." Zephyr snapped her forearms open, unfolding the mid-range artillery clips to check her ammo. She eyed them, counting quickly before she snapped her arms shut and rolled the barrels twice back into place. "We're about seventy-five miles from the border. If we don't outpace Riot we can be there in thirty minutes. Thrush, you're the fastest. I know you're going to want to pull ahead, but you will not. Understood?"</p><p>"Understood," Thrush said immediately. </p><p>"Good," she replied, snapping her wings open as she bent her knees and took off standing. "I've scanned the vehicles they brought with them," Zephyr continued as Thrush and Riot fell into formation behind her, "These should reach the border from Galena in thirty, thirty-five minutes, but if I know the Americans, they'll be late or they'll hold up the trade off with bureaucracy. They love wasting time." </p><p>"But what if they <em> don't?</em>" Thrush fretted, "What if they take him?"</p><p>"Then we'll just take him back from the Americans," Riot asserted.</p><p>"...Understood," Thrush answered, overcome, and set his flight plan.</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>Evan leaned forward on the dash of the Jeep, adjusting his parka. "This thing really doesn't have any heat?"</p><p>"No," the commander replied, "It wasn't built with the temperate needs of organics in mind."</p><p>"Thrush complains about being cold all the time."</p><p>"Thrush is a notorious outlier."</p><p>Evan grimaced and sighed, white breath puffing around his face. "They're late."</p><p>"They're Americans," she said, side-eyeing him, "They're always late."</p><p>Evan huffed a laugh. "Right. Fair. I wanna be back before Thrush is, though." </p><p>"They'll be running formations for hours yet," Seax responded, "I gave Zephyr off-shift until twenty-hundred hours." </p><p>"I've gotta move my legs," Evan groaned, sliding out of the passenger seat of the Jeep and onto the gravel road, shoving his hands into his pockets, "Get the blood moving."</p><p>"Fine," Seax said, leaning back in her seat and resting her chin in her hand. </p><p>"Do you need help?" inquired a soldier leaning back against one of the other vehicles.</p><p>"No, I'm fine. I'm uncomfortable, not in danger," Evan said quickly. The soldier seemed relieved.</p><p>"Oh, good," he replied, "I can't tell, you know."</p><p>"Yeah, I figured," Evan answered, hopping from foot to foot idly.</p><p>"So, did you-" the soldier stopped and everyone present froze, suddenly tensing in alarm.</p><p>"What's wrong?" Evan asked, straightening up, "What are you-"</p><p>A spray of bullets came from somewhere Evan didn't have the processing speed to parse and spattered across the snow in front of the car. He ducked down beside the Jeep, arms over his head as the soldier beside him turned his attention upward and forward, toward something in the sky he couldn't see. Seax stood up in the Jeep and leaned over the windshield, yelling something he didn't catch. </p><p>Evan wasn't sure what it was that caught his attention, because he looked before he actually <em> heard </em> the hypersonic whistle of something incoming fast-</p><p>Only for it to <em> slam </em>into the commander fast enough and hard enough that he fell over onto the gravel and the entire Jeep flipped onto its side in the direction, and a dark blurr to bear the commander into the Earth, leaving a scored furrow of torn ground in their wake before they came to a stop twenty metres away. Thrush stumbled to his feet, hissing steam as he righted himself, wobbling.</p><p>"Thrush?!" Evan yelled, sitting up on his knees. Thrush didn't look back at him. </p><p>"I warned you!" Thrush yelled, snapping his wings back and lashing his tail like a whip, "I warned you not to push m-" he stumbled forward with a yelp as a bullet hit his back with a sharp <em> shink. </em></p><p>"Hold fire!" Seax cried, pushing herself up, "Stop shooting!" </p><p>"But commander-" said the soldier Evan had spoken to a moment before.</p><p>"Hydrogen core!" Thrush yelled back before she could, pointing at his chest, "I wouldn't try it!" </p><p>"What the <em> hell </em> are you doing?" Seax hissed at him. </p><p>"I'm rescuing a state refugee before <em> you </em> pawn him off to the Americans," he snapped, "This operation is over."</p><p>Seax was silent for a moment before she laughed. Thrush leaned back, startled, then glanced back at the turned over jeep and the soldiers behind it. </p><p>"What?" he asked, "What's so funny?"</p><p>The commander stood up, dusting off her thighs before she looked down at the tiny drone. "I admire your pluck, Thrush. You're right, you aren't like the bots on Proxima. Perhaps it was foolish on my part to think you were soft."</p><p>"Well-" said Thrush awkwardly, "Yeah. It was."</p><p>"Evan!" she called over to him, peeking over the Jeep, "Why are we here?"</p><p>"We-" Evan yelled, and Thrush looked back at him, optic shifting, "We're here to talk out a no-fire agreement."</p><p>"What?" Thrush asked, squinting. "Oof." He stumbled forward when Seax gave him a hard pat on the back with another laugh.</p><p>"Come on, then, call down your friends," she told him, beginning to walk back to the car, "No one is getting traded to the Americans today." </p><p>Thrush straightened up, optic tracking in confusion, before he looked up at the sky and nodded.</p><p>Evan yelped when Riot landed heavily behind him with a thump, shaking the gravel. </p><p>"Lemme get that," the larger drone said, waving Evan away from the Jeep. He grabbed the side of it and pulled it back down onto its wheels.</p><p>"It was his idea, anyway," Seax continued, inspecting the turned over vehicle, "He was higher clearance than I thought."</p><p>"I, uh-" Evan said nervously, glancing between her, Riot, and Thrush, "The whole network is full of passwords no one but me knows. I'm sure they're operating way below optimal trying to bruteforce back into their own systems."</p><p>"I contacted the Americans in Ruby," Seax continued, "This area is of low strategic importance and dangerous for both our troops. No one wants to be here. They agreed to a no-fire truce for this zone if he hands over everything they need to get their software functioning optimally again." </p><p>"Oh," said Thrush.</p><p>Commander Seax frowned, looking back at him and then at Riot. "Weren't there three of you?"</p><p>"There's no way Zephyr's landing," Riot supplied, "She just shot at you, she's not going to expose her six." </p><p>"Oh, tell her it's fine," the commander handwaved, "If I couldn't give you the impression I take my responsibility for your wellbeing-" she paused and glanced back at Evan, "and, legally, <em> his, </em> then it's my fault anyway." </p><p>"What?" Evan balked, "You can't be serious." </p><p>"Humans are so righteously jaded," Seax commented, "You pride yourself on being better than to trust yourselves and assume we all operate under the same self-centered motivations."</p><p>Evan looked oddly struck and shut his mouth, sinking down like a scolded child. Thrush thrashed his tail as he eyed her but kept silent. </p><p>"Sir," said one of the soldiers, "The Americans are approaching."</p><p>"Fashionably late, right on time," Seax murmured, "Tell your third to stay stealthed, then. The two of you stand in the back and don't say anything. This won't take long."</p><p>Thrush glanced at Evan, who winced, mouthing <em> I'm sorry. </em> Thrush huffed a frustrated sigh and retreated to the back of the line.</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>"That was stupid," Evan whispered, after ten minutes of driving in silence. They sat not quite close enough to touch in the back of a van driven by a ensign, despite the human's obvious chill, frequently shivering. </p><p>"Yes," Thrush replied. </p><p>"That was your <em> plan?</em>" Evan hissed, "Just <em> tackle </em> her?"</p><p>"No," said Thrush, his voice hoarse, "We were interrupted. Riot was going to grab you if they didn't back down."</p><p>"And if they didn't let him grab me?"</p><p>"They would have let him grab you," Thrush mumbled, "It was that or shoot me. And they weren't going to shoot me."</p><p>"...I'm sorry," Evan said eventually, looking away, "I meant to be back before you were." </p><p>"You should have told me. You shouldn't have gone without me."</p><p>"I'm sorry," Evan said hoarsely, "You're right. I didn't think you'd find out. I didn't think you'd be worried."</p><p>"You didn't think I'd be <em> worried?</em>" Thrush gasped, "I'm <em> always </em> worried about what could happen to you, that the commander might do something that the Americans might do something, that you might walk outside and freeze to death because your warm blooded body will drop dead if your internal temperature drops twenty degrees! Of course I was worried about you!"</p><p>Evan shrunk back, startled. "I'm sorry."</p><p>"Why?" Thrush asked, flattening his wings back.</p><p>Evan knitted his brows together, lips parted like he was struggling to find the words. "I had to prove I was serious."</p><p>Thrush hesitated. "What?"</p><p>"You were so upset this morning," Evan went on, glancing out the window at the rolling tundra outside, "And you have been for weeks. I know your friends have been getting to you. I wanted to prove to you <em> and </em> them that I <em> am </em> serious." He turned back and grimaced. "I hurt your feelings."</p><p>Thrush felt his wings sinking, tail going limp. "Oh," he said slowly, before he shook his head. "I'm sorry. I know you didn't mean it. You did hurt my feelings, but- I should have talked to you. I shouldn't have stormed off."</p><p>"I was worried…" Evan hiked his shoulders up uncomfortably, "I was worried that maybe you were starting to think you made a mistake."</p><p>Thrush straightened up, wings set back, frozen and searching for a response before he surged forward without instruction to pull their bodies together, burying his helm in his shoulder, arms wrapped tight around his back like he was afraid something might pull him away. </p><p>"No," he shook his head, optic pressed against his parka, "I love you."</p><p>Evan clutched him back, gloved hands grappling for purchase at his wing housings. "I love you. I love you so much."</p><p>"I was so worried something was going to happen to you," Thrush warbled.</p><p>"I was so worried I was going to lose you," Evan cried back.</p><p>"You couldn't lose me," Thrush insisted, shifting his position so he was on his knees, pulling him closer, more needily. "I love you."</p><p>"I'm yours," Evan murmured into his audial, pulling him flush into his lap, "I love you."</p><p>The driver synthesized an uncomfortable cough.</p><p>Thrush sat back, antennae shooting up and spinal strut straightening out when he remembered they weren't alone. Awkwardly, he crawled back into his seat, feeling uncomfortably warm and exposed. He sat close enough for their thighs to touch, and hoped at least the human was less cold.</p><p> </p><p></p><blockquote>
  <p>[<em> 11:43:08] Thrush: we made up :) </em></p>
  <p>
    <em> [11:43:15] Zephyr: don't fuck in the car </em>
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  <p>
    <em> [11:43:20] Thrush: :( </em>
  </p>
  <p>
    <em> [11:43:22] Thrush: you are so mean to me. You are bullying me. </em>
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  <p>
    <em> [11:43:30] Zephyr: do I ever do anything else </em>
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</blockquote><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>Evan slammed Thrush against the wall the second they were in past the threshold, kicking the door shut blindly behind him as he hefted the drone up high enough to kiss, his legs kicking against the wall for purchase. </p><p>Thrush clawed at his back, trying to pull him closer than flush, wings clattering hard against the wall, tail thrashing hard enough to scratch the paint. </p><p>"You tried to save my life," Evan rasped into his audial, voice husky, "That's pretty hot."</p><p>"Damn right it is," Thrush snarled, kicking his legs up to wrap around Evan's waist, rutting his groin up against the man's growing erection.</p><p>"What happened to taking a break, huh?" Evan chuckled, mouthing at his neck as the drone leaned his head all the way back, "You've been trying to crawl in my pants since we got out of the truck."</p><p>"Fuck a break," Thrush snapped, pushing off the human's parka over his back and onto the floor, "Fuck everybody else. I want to feel you."</p><p>"You've got me," Evan groaned, pinning him down by his wings, "Anyway you want me. Every way you want me."</p><p>"I want you inside me," Thrush pleaded, letting go of his neck to paw at his waistband, "I want you inside me and I want you with me. I want to keep coming home to you, here, waiting for me-"</p><p>"Consider me yours." Evan reached down to bat away Thrush's hands and rip open his fly, yanking down his pants and boxers in one go. He palmed between Thrush's legs in a desperate, primal way. "Open, please, open open <em> open-" </em></p><p>Thrush's modesty panel snapped apart and Evan thrust two fingers into the already wet folds of his entrance, a shaky sigh escaping his ribs. </p><p>"It's not enough," Thrush whined, frantic like he was dying, "I need, I need-"</p><p>"I know what you need," the man gasped, rocking his hand into him before he changed his mind and grabbed their flush cocks together in his half-slicked fist instead, pumping them together in time with the way he was rocking forward and hiking the drone up into the wall, "I've got you."</p><p>"I know, I know, I know," Thrush babbled senselessly, arching his spine, "You always take care of me. You're so good-"</p><p>Thrush cut himself off with a static whine as the human's fist rolled over the head of his dick, thumb rubbing against the slit and he thunked his head back against the wall.</p><p>"Stop, stop stop stop-" he gasped, toes curling and trembling hands pulling the fabric of his shirt taut enough to tear. Evan halted, glancing up at him with the unspoken question. "I don't want to cum like this," he rasped. </p><p>"No?" Evan asked, squeezing again, "You want to cum on my dick that bad?"</p><p>"Please," Thrush choked out, wrecked.</p><p>"God, I can't say no to you," Evan moaned, hiking him up higher as he released his cock and grabbed his hips instead. Thrush wailed as the man sunk into him, hot and hard and contained like a lion in a petting zoo as he rocked up into him, biting down in his neck struts as he did. </p><p>"Evan, <em> Evan,</em>" Thrush wailed, trembling as if near tears as the human fucked him into the drywall hard and fast and exactly the way he liked. </p><p>"Fuck," Evan swore. "<em>Thrush."  </em></p><p>Every strut in his body taut and trembling, the drone keened and saw white. Evan thrust up again hard, Thrush's cock smearing pre-fluid against his shirt where it was trapped between their bellies before suddenly, all of his resistance and willpower broke like a dam and he came howling, clawing for purchase as it rocked through him. </p><p>Evan let out a low, reverent moan as he lost this rhythm in his desperation, his need, and couldn't hold back from following him over the edge. He bit down on metal, hands shaking against the wall as he filled Thrush up and left him trembling.</p><p>They both hung there in suspended limbo, panting, before Evan leaned back to mouth more languid kisses below his optic, words unspoken but understood. After a moment he realized Thrush's legs were shaking and gently pulled himself free, moving to set him down, but the drone simply tightened his leg's grip with a huff.</p><p>"You have to carry me," he insisted, laying his head on the man's shoulder, "It's the rules."</p><p>"Oh, yeah," Evan laughed wearily, "How could I forget?" </p><p>He held him by the lower back as he kicked his pants away from his ankles and stumbled over to the nest, flopping backwards into it together. He ran a hand over Thrush's helm in idle appreciation, fingers tracing seam-lines in the metal.</p><p>"'S good," Thrush mumbled.</p><p>"Mmhmm," Evan agreed.</p><p>"I wanna keep you," Thrush murmured.</p><p>"I'm all yours." </p><p>"Yeah?" Thrush lazily coiled his tail around a warm ankle, "I'm sorry I've been weird lately."</p><p>"You shouldn't be," Evan assured him, moving to rub circles against his back, "You were working through some stuff. It's okay." </p><p>"Okay." Thrush pushed himself up so he was sitting on Evan's waist and looking down at him. "I'm not done."</p><p>Evan gave him a lopsided grin and gave the drone's mostly soft cock a squeeze, earning himself an interested twitch. "I was hoping you would say that."</p>
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